FrameMaker vs. InDesign

One thing to look at in IDCS6 is the Liquid Layout, Alternate Layouts, and Content Linking (via the Content Conveyor), which are all basically new in this version.

While not allowing conditional pages, per se, you can create multiple representations of your pages within the same document, and choose to link or not link content (text and/or graphics!) between layouts.

If you (or anyone else reading this post) would like to see a 20 minute demo I recorded on the topic, feel free to forward me your email address in a private message and I'll give you access.

-Matt

@mattrsullivan

> One feature that Frame offers that I haven't been able to locate in InDesign is using conditional text to turn entire pages on and off within a book.

Frame doesn't actually do that, does it? If you have disconnected pages in an FM document, they cannot be hidden by CC. They just end up empty of main flow text.

What Frame does is allow arbitrary swaths of Flow A text, and non-graphic text in anchored frames and tables, to be hidden via CC. The remaining visible text re-flows, often reducing the needed page count (making it appear that "pages" have been turned off), and easily vanishing content that maps specific page layouts via AMP (making specific page layouts appear to turn off). So it appears that pages are conditionalized, but it is really just the text that is.

I'm not an ID user, but if ID has conditional text, and supports a single text flow across page boundaries, and supports linking content to page layouts, I'd expect that it could "conditionalize pages" by implication.

You’d probably have better luck asking over in the ID forum ;>)